Thai Credit Retail Bank Public Company Limited (TCRB) is expanding its Financial Literacy courses entitled “Tang To Know-How” to meet popular demand.
As part of TCRB’s “Everyone Matters” brand philosophy, the Bank believes it is essential to ensure that the underserved mum and pop entrepreneurs within the communities where TCRB is present should be provided with opportunities to feel more empowered to take greater control of their financial decision-making and ultimately their lives.
Since 2017, over 100,000 people have taken part in TCRB’s financial literacy courses. This year, TCRB is expanding its Corporate Social Responsibility efforts by establishing the Thai Credit Foundation named “EMpower”.
In line with the TCRB’s vision, the foundation’s purpose is to support small and micro business entrepreneurs as well as underprivileged people in Thai society.
TCRB is confident that teaching financial literacy is key to the development of individuals and families, making them more stable and increasing their quality of life. Typically, the smaller grassroots entrepreneurs in the wet markets may not have high academic backgrounds and do not learn how to maximise their businesses and their finances. TCRB provides a missing link so that participants bolster their financial understanding in order to make sound and knowledgeable decisions.
Ultimately, this will help reduce household debt which is considered a national problem. According to the Bank of Thailand, household debt in Thailand accounted for 88.2% of the country’s GDP in the third quarter of 2022, compared with 89.2% in the previous quarter. However, many Thai families, particularly people in low-income households struggle with debt due to inflation. This is reflected in a steep rise in people opting for personal loans and credit card loans.
EMpower will strategically focus on three areas to strengthen its community, including relevant financial knowledge, simple and easy to understand content, and business enhancement and maximisation. In addition to financial education, the EMpower program focuses on encouraging career development and generating more income as the Covid-19 pandemic has affected household finances. Taking a second job for supplemental income is one way that can help people survive the pandemic.
"EMpower emphasises the upper case ‘E’ and ‘M’, abbreviated from "Everyone Matters". The foundation EMpowers so that small entrepreneurs who are vital to Thailand’s economy can make sound financial decisions navigating life without the fear and dangers of illegal lending sources.
Our EMployees will be able to volunteer to build self-confidence and contribute to society through the foundation," said TCRB's managing director Mr.Roy Agustinus Gunara.
In addition to enhancing financial knowledge and supporting education, the foundation also plans to promote and support communities to apply local wisdom, arts and culture for the creation of careers and higher income.
Furthermore, the foundation will collaborate with charitable organisations and public interest organisations to run social activities that bring benefits to the community and society.
“With a vision that prioritises promoting small business entrepreneurs, the bank organises its CSR activities based on principles designed to achieve Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), including inclusive and equitable quality education, promotion of lifelong learning opportunities for all, and inequality reduction,” Mr.Roy added.
This year, the bank has expanded the Tang To Know-How courses to cover both permanent and temporary employees, freelancers as well as government officers and community leaders nationwide.
To rapidly broaden financial literacy across the region, TCRB has trained the managers of the bank's branches to be professional trainers and included all 265 TCRB branches nationwide as learning centres
